Freedom of trade association in Bangladesh

An organization whose membership consists of workers and union leaders, united to protect and promote their common interests is defined as a trade union or trade association. The right to form and join trade unions, to collectively bargain and to strike is universal human rights as guaranteed by the Conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO). Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948 guaranteed that “Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests”. Trade union rights described in various ILO Conventions are recognized in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and are among the fundamental rights guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights.

The legal framework of trade unionism got formal shape with the enactment of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006. Unfortunately, the trade union activities again interrupted after proclamation of Emergency on 11 January 2007 and continued for 23 months. The EPZ Workers Association and Industrial Relations Act, 2010 was passed upon repealing the EPZ Workers Association and Industrial Relations Act, 2004 and restricted trade union activities in the EPZ areas. In 2013, the Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Act, 2013 was passed to provide the provisions, inter alia, simplification of trade union registration procedure and women representation in the executive committee of a trade union. Bangladesh has ratified seven out of eight core Conventions of ILO of which Conventions 87 and 98 are relevant to the right of “Freedom of Association” and “Freedom of Choosing Leadership”.  Therefore, it is an obligation on the part of Bangladesh to make our national law compatible with ILO Conventions.

The April 2013 building collapse (Rana plaza tragedy) killed 1,100 garment workers and injured many others. None of the factories operating in Rana Plaza had trade unions. If their workers had more of a voice, they might have been able to resist managers who ordered them to work in the doomed building a day after large cracks appeared in it. Only about 10 percent of Bangladesh’s more than 4,500 garment factories have registered unions. While many factory workers have tried to form unions, government authorities have frequently rejected applications. In an April 2016 Human Rights Watch meeting with Mohammed Mujibul Haque, the country’s labor minister, he dismissed concerns raised about the difficulty of registering a union, saying, “Most who apply for union registration have no idea what a union is.”

Government and union data show that while the number of union registration applications has increased since 2013, the government has rejected a large amount of these applications. The Solidarity Center, a nonprofit organization aligned with the AFL-CIO labor federation, estimates that authorities approved fewer than half of the union applications filed since 2013. An annual breakdown compiled by the Solidarity Center showed that in 2015 labor authorities approved 61 union registration applications, while rejecting 148. The Dhaka Joint Directorate of Labour alone rejected 73 percent of the applications.
In a 2015 report, Human Rights Watch documented numerous examples of factory interference with unions, including physical assault; intimidation and threats, such as threats of sexual violence against women workers seeking to form unions; dismissal of union leaders; and false criminal complaints against workers. Since 2013, the Solidarity Center has documented more than 100 cases in which factory officials or hired thugs have beaten or threatened workers, intimidated their families, filed false criminal charges against workers, or fired them for union activity. Bangladesh authorities have failed to initiate appropriate legal action against union-busting factories. In some cases, police have refused to record criminal complaints and failed to initiate impartial investigations. In a recent example of 2016 February in which the police failed to register a criminal complaint when a union leader was beaten by a group of people, including some he recognized as employees of another factory owned by the same group. The 2012 murder of Aminul Islam of the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity, a nongovernmental organization that protects workers’ rights, has yet to be properly investigated.
There are no procedures governing investigation of union-busting and other unfair labor practices by labor authorities. The 2015 Rules merely state that labor authorities should dispose of complaints within 30 days, but do not mention due process. Even if authorities find that factories have unfairly dismissed workers for unionizing, they can only file complaints in labor courts, where cases are often delayed.

Proper legal framework for trade unionism should be made in compliance with international standard keeping in mind of the lesson of the past and present experience for better protection of the national interest. Effective enforcement mechanism including adequate inspection, independent investigation, fair trial and execution of verdict is to be ensured by the state. Relevant stakeholders like the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, international apparel brands and consumers have to play pro-active role by encouraging the establishment of independent trade unions to protect workers’ rights by representing the grievance of the workers properly and to settle labour disputes through peaceful means.